Treading Water
by FireFairy219
Summary: His heart sank the moment he saw her. Somehow, she was the exact image of a girl he used to know. One-shot. Songfic. AU.


**A/N**: No copyright infringement intended; I do not own the song "Treading Water" by Alex Clare. This is a song-based fanfic. AU.

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**TREADING WATER**

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She looked exactly like her.

Smiling, ruby eyes and short hair. Carefree, helpful and good.

He'd noticed her coming by the lake one day, the one in the park near campus where he came to relax and escape the world, her and himself.

He'd been leaning against his regular tree, seven feet up in the air on his regular branch, looking over the gentle water and its sunny reflection that was occasionally disturbed by a duck or fish when she'd jogged past. And he swore, wearing those pink and white gym shoes, that baggy pair of trousers, that pink rock-'n-roll shirt, and that hairclip to keep her bangs from falling down, that she was the exact image of the girl he used to know.

And then he'd fallen out of the tree, landing on the grassy patch under it with a loud thud and a yell that alerted said girl to his presence.

He couldn't remember the particulars that followed but he imagined it probably went something like this: "Oh my, are you alright?" "Sure, yeah, I do this all the time." "You look nice. Here, let me buy you an ice-cream." "Thanks, what's your name?" "Sora. Yours?" "Tai. Want to do this again sometime?" "Sure, tomorrow same time?" "I'll see you then."

So perhaps it wasn't exactly that smooth a conversation. And perhaps he wasn't so unaffected by her resemblance as he was in his recap. But nonetheless, she showed up the day after like she said she would.

A part of him had secretly hoped she wouldn't.

_Maybe it's another chance,  
to mug myself again.  
Maybe it's another chance,  
I'm sure I'll fuck things up in the same way._

"I see you're playing it safe this time." She'd donned her sportive clothes for a pair of denim shorts and a simple white sleeveless shirt. The hairclip was missing this time as well. It was pleasantly different.

Tai shrugged and gave her a lopsided smile. "I just figured I'd save you some ice-cream money."

"I don't mind. Besides, I'm glad to meet someone who's so fond of nature that they feel the need to climb it."

"You're a funny one, aren't you?"

Sora's blushing cheeks and burning eyes would be reminisced about for days and days on end. "I guess that's for you to find out. If you want."

And so they began.

They – he – started out shyly and hesitantly, going to neutral places, doing neutral things, talking about silly nothings. He revelled in the time he spent with her, loved how the sun would catch her brown strands, enjoyed her genuine laughter and feared that everything would be taken away just like that. Because he knew it wasn't right, he knew it wasn't normal, and he knew he would hurt her when the illusion they hung onto suddenly decided to end.

He could see it wouldn't be long until she'd wonder at why he never invited her to his house, why he always wanted to talk about her instead of himself, why he insisted his life was plain boring and why he often stared at her face. Their friendship was so fragile, he was actually surprised it still existed.

He was glad it did, of course, but it shouldn't.

But she was just _so much_ like her.

_It's my concentration,  
seems spread too thin,  
and when you speak, my eyes glaze over._

"Hey Tai, want to know a secret?" she asked out of the blue, walking beside him on yet another of their nature walks. She didn't wait for an answer. "I've been dyeing my hair for three years now."

"Hmm. That's cool," he replied disinterestedly, staring off into space again.

"Now you tell me something random about you," she urged him on, giving him a good poke in the ribs.

"Ouch! What?"

"Tell me something about you!"

"Why?" he defended. "I don't have any interesting facts about my life."

"Sure you do! Everyone does. For example, my hair is naturally red," she said, as though she were explaining the matter to a child.

"Why do you dye it?" he deflected, intrigued by her statement.

"Because people teased me about it in high school. I decided brown was a safe bet so I went with that, but I've been thinking of changing it back. It's not really me." She said it so nonchalantly, so accepting of herself, even though it made her so vulnerable.

"I think you'd look just as nice as you do now. But you should do whatever feels right." He took note of her happy smile at his sincere compliment, and blurted out: "I hate swimming."

"See! That wasn't so hard." She paused awhile to glance at him. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"No."

"That's alright. Can I race you to the ice-cream vendor then?"

Tai grinned, relieved at her understanding. "You even dare call it a race? I'll see you there, slowpoke!"

_Girl you're a fire and you'll find,  
that I want to get burnt._

And then it became inevitable. He couldn't postpone the truth much longer, especially since he could see her growing need of knowledge day by day. So when she suggested they go somewhere else, and do something she was sure he'd never done before, he said yes. She'd ensured him he couldn't know where it was or the surprise would be ruined and that he just had to trust her that it would be fun. But it didn't even matter that much. Because he couldn't take it anymore. He had to disappear from her life, save her from himself, from his growing feelings and his gloomy past.

"Okay, okay. You can open your eyes now."

"The lake?"

"Yes, that is a lake."

"Are you joking?"

"Of course not. Now, take off your trousers."

Tai looked at her in disbelief at this request. "Take them off? Why the hell would I do that?"

Sora took a hold of his shoulders and pierced his browns with her reds. Her irises contained flecks of gold, which he hadn't noticed before. "Do you trust me?"

"Yes."

"We're going swimming."

"I thought I told you I hated swimming." He was starting to panic at where this was going. It was evening already, so there weren't a lot of passers-by he could shout for help to. He felt trapped, as if she was about to drown him then and there.

"I know. But I figured you once did so I wanted to help you get over whatever it is you fear." She looked so honest and kind. It calmed him.

But the damage was done. Memories of hospitals came back to him. Memories where his mother slapped him for not taking care of his sister. Memories where he saw the doctors trying to cool his sister's fever, of them trying to reanimate her exceptionally pale body. Memories of him, answering the phone at home, annoyed that someone would take him away from his video games, listening to Kari's friend's frantic voice. Memories of her pretty face, her "don't be an idiot, Tai, of course Mum will be okay with it". Memories of grief, pain, Kari, Kari, Kari.

Sora was already standing in the water, clad only in her underwear, her now-red hair blowing in the wind, and her hand stretched out for him to grab.

She took hold of his larger palm and gently pulled him along. Apparently, she'd helped him get undressed, too, because he had no idea when it was he'd stripped down to his boxers. The chill he suddenly felt gave him goose bumps.

"Take my hand. It's fine."

Not even her presence could soothe him now. He was freaking out. He was freaking out so bad and he didn't know how to stop.

"That's good, Tai. Now, I'm going to walk a little further in, yeah? Just hold my hand."

Automatically, his body complied and he followed her in, even when he couldn't stand anymore. His brain still knew the mechanics of treading water, so he did just that.

He was doing it. He was _swimming_ in a freaking _lake_!

"You're doing great!" Sora said, paddling next to him. "Okay, Tai. Now I'm going to let go of your hand and I'm going to swim by myself, alright? Will you follow me?"

His hold on her hand became a death grip at this. Was she out of her mind?

And then she kissed him.

Her lips tasted as sweet as summer and he realised he'd been wanting to do this for quite some time now. It just clashed so much with his initial reasoning. "I have to tell you something." The golden flecks in her ruby eyes were stunning and her hair wasn't brown, it was red. "My sister died swimming. She nearly drowned but they couldn't save her after either. She died, Sora. And you remind me so much of her. But you're so different at the same time, you know? You're you. And I like you, for you."

Sora's already flushed cheeks quickly took on a scarlet hue. "I know, Tai. I remember it being in the papers."

"You knew all along? Why didn't you say anything?"

She dropped his hand. "Because I didn't want to cause you more pain than you were already going through. Because you need to move on on your own terms. I wasn't going to force you."

She was swimming away from him then. "It's your choice."

_And you're another chance,  
to mug myself again.  
Baby you're another chance._

And he swam.

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**A/N**: Finished! Haha I thought it would never end! I hope you like it, Ezio ^^ Let me know what you guys thought of this AU one-shot in a review, please! And take a look at Ezio Uchiha's fanfic _Broken Heartbeats_, too! We gave each other a song to write for, so you really can't read this one without reading his as well ;)

-x-


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